Female Officers Demand Variety in Nail Polish

Dozens of female officers demand an exemption from the rule that only allows three colors of nail polish.

By Gil Ronen

First Publish: 8/26/2013, 1:45 PM

Nail polish

Flash 90

Dozens of female officers and NCOs who serve in the IDF's Standing Army (Tzva Keva) have sent a letter to Personnel Branch Head, Major General Orna Barbivai, demanding that they be exempted from limitations on nail polish, and that these limitations only be applied to soldiers in mandatory service.

Current orders allow female soldiers to paint their nails with light pink polish, transparent or “pearl white” polish, or in the style known as “French,” which constitutes a white stripe at the end of the nail.

The petitioners want complete freedom of color.

"The military, for us, is a way of life,” they wrote. “We want to feel good with ourselves, as women. This order cannot be applied to us. We do not accept this enforcement and ask to be placed in a different category from female soldiers in regular service.”

Channel 2 said that despite the letter, Major General Barbivai stands behind the current orders.

In the past, only women who served in the Standing Army could wear nail polish.

The Head of Regime and Discipline Branch in the IDF, Lt.-Col. Oren Avraham, said in 2012 that changes had been made to disciplinary orders to allow women in mandatory service to use polish as well, and that this decision was made despite the fact that in other militaries, nail polish was strictly forbidden.

The IDF Spokesman told Channel 2 that it was not familiar with the letter and that the female soldiers' plea would be addressed through proper channels, once it was received.